The Golden Phoenix Foundation, established in 2005 to address issues relating to childhood abandonment, announced in September 2006 its support for the Orphan Medical Care Project. The Orphan Medical Care Project (OMCP) is designed to bring critically needed medical care to children in orphanages around the world. The OMCP represents the combined forces of INOVA Hospital for Children of Fairfax, Virginia, HOMBRE, a student run medical organization based at Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond, Virginia, and most recently, The Golden Phoenix Foundation. The OMCP, originally created by Dr. Patrick Mason and Christine Narad who run INOVA Hospital for Children’s International Adoption Institute in Fairfax, Virginia, brings teams of doctors, interns, medical students, nurses and other volunteers together to visit orphanages and provide urgent medical care to the children in the facility and adults and children in surrounding communities.
The OMCP began in the summer of 2005 with a two week visit to the NPH Orphanage near Olanchito, Honduras. This was followed up by visits in 2006, 2007 and 2008. Physical examinations, specialty consultants and general medical care are provided at temporary clinics throughout the two week mission. On average, members of the OMCP team see 300-500 children from the orphanage and adults and children from surrounding towns. During the two week trip, a complete pharmacy is brought in order to provide much needed medication to patients.
OMCP also provides supplemental care and support to the orphanages throughout the year, via e-mail and telephone consultation, as well as provision of supplies. However, the on-site care provided by OMCP during those two weeks each summer is often the only care that children and adults outside the orphanage receive all year.
The future goal of OMCP is to provide more continuity of care to the children of NPH and to surrounding countries, including El Salvador, Guatemala, and Peru, by sending medical teams into those locations several times throughout the year. As well, OMCP will also look to partner with other organizations to work with local communities in bettering other aspects of daily living, including infrastructure and education.
Funds raised by The Golden Phoenix Foundation in support of OMCP will be used to underwrite the medical mission and other activities benefiting NPH and its surrounding communities. It is the goal of OMCP to develop similar projects in orphanages throughout Latin America, Eastern Europe and Asia modeled after the highly successful Honduran project.
The Golden Phoenix Foundation 1390 Chain Bridge Road, # 15 McLean, VA 22101 phone: 703/734-8359 email: contact@goldenphoenixfoundation.org